Submarine eye



Oct; 13, 1936. c. w. HEATH SUBMARINE EYE Filed July 28, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 C. W. HEATH SUBMARINE EYE Oct. 13, 1936.

4 Sheets- Sheet 2 Filed July 28, 1932 WALK-H1":

Oct. 13, 1936. c. w. HEATH 2,057,146

SUBMARINE EYE Filed July 28, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 dag! elf Oct. 13, 1936. c, w HEATH 2,057,146

SUBMARINE EYE Filed July 28, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jnpcnhn,

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. W W %A Patented Oct. 13, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUBMARINE EYE Charles W. Heath, Sioux City, Iowa Application July 28, 1932, Serial No. 625,305

7 Claims. ((71. 61-89) I apparatus which is lowered.

A further object of my invention is to provide powerful lighting means to illuminate the sea floor so that the images can be clearly distinguished.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for tilting the television eye which is lowered, so that the viewpoint can be transferred to any desired angle.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for effecting a clear view and defining the image to the greatest possible extent.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for proper synchronization of the television apparatus as well as means for adjusting the synchronization perfectly after it is out of step.

A further object of my invention is to provide suitable means in the vessel which receives the images to clearly define the image in the best possible manner.

A further object of my invention is to provide automatic control means for regulating the television eye to any desired position as well as controlling the eye for any contingency.

A further object of my invention is to provide all of the above mentioned objects in a construction which is as simple as possible for'the purpose intended so that there will be a minimum of apparatus to get out of order.

Withthese and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing the method of supporting the submarine eye from a vessel.

' Figure 2 is a modified form showing the structure attached to the eye for. obtaining a superior angular positioning eiiect,

Figure3 is a sectional view of the submarineeye itself,

Figure 4 is a bottom view of the eye,

Figure 5 is a plan or top view.

Figure 6 is a view of the wiring diagram for the apparatus together with details of the receiving table,

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail view or the 5 clamping method for clamping the bell of the eye to the window .structure, and guard framework.

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail view showing the method of incorporating the lenses in the television scanning disks,

Figure 9 is a plan view of the pick-up scanning disk,

Figure 10 is an elevation of the control and receiving table,

Figure 11 is a plate view of the table, and I Figure 12 is a modified view showing a motion picture camera attached to the table.

In exploring the sea bottom, the problems encountered are'numerous. For instance in locating sunken treasure no satisfactory means have been devised for determining what is at the bottom of the sea at particular locations.

It is generally necessary for divers in suitable diving suits to be lowered to the seafloor and make observations. This entails'a great deal of labor and expense even before the objects are definitely located. At the best the present variety of tubes, diving bells and the like necessitate the human element being positioned near the scene of observation. In other words the person or persons involved must be lowered to the sea floor. Since ordinary diving suitsand the like and the human element are limited to certain pressure restrictions, this is a very inconvenient method of locating or visualizing objects on the sea floor.

It is my intention in my present invention to show that I have devised a method of directly visualizing objects on the sea floor just as defl- 40 nitely and as accurately as though the observer were on the sea floor himself. Furthermore I will show that I have devised such an apparatus which can be lowered to a very great depth.

Furthermore I will show that I have devised such an apparatus which can be readily adjusted by suitable controls so that the eye itself can be positioned at an angle to its normal plane.

I have used the reference character II to designate the sailing vessel which is used with the sub- 0 marine eye.- This vessel carries the extended arms II which are placed at the bow stern po and starboard side respectively.

All of these arms will be of approximately the same'length with possibly the arms on the port as and starboard sides being of greater length for reasons to be stated.

The arms ll include the pulleys I! at their extremities, over which the cables I3 pass.

It will be seen from this that there are four cables passing downwardly from the extended ends of these arms.

The inner ends of the cables I! are attached to suitable winches on the deck which need not be detailed here.

The cables [3 pass downwardly and are attached to. the submarine eye itself through the openings ll, (see Figure 3), of which there are four spaced equally about the upper periphery of the bell IS.

The openings it are included in the integral extensions it which are cast solidly together with the bell l5. a

An upper eye opening I1 is provided for emergency means for drawing the eye to the surface or to the deck of the boat if desired. For instance after the eye is drawn nearly to the surface of the water, the hook l8 can be lowered from a derrick or the like and engage in the opening I! and the eye drawn upwardly to the deck since it would not be possible to conveniently perform the same operation with the four cables l3.

The bell I5 is made of strong cast metal to withstand the extreme pressures involved at great sea depths.

I also provide the tin is to prevent oscillation of the eye about its vertical axis and which fln will tend to keep the eye in a substantially stationaryposition.

The fin ll includes the'ribs 20 and the portion 2|, which is adapted to be bolted by the same bolting means which bolts the rest of the apparatus together and which will be explained more fully.

It will now be seen that the submarine eye is suspended from four cables l3, which are widely separated at their upper ends. This type of structure is important since it is necessary in an apparatus of this type to prevent the eye from swaying about its axis and to keep it as stationary as possiblewhen lowered. For instance if a single cable were used, the various currents encountered in the sea depths would tend to oscillate the eye about the axis of the cable and unsatisfactory results would be obtained. However in the present construction the separating of the cables spaces the supporting means so that the angular eflect is correspondingly increased 8081 there can' then be no undue twisting of the ca es.

To further emphasize this effect for greater.

depths, I provide the modifications shown in Figure 2 in which the frame 22 is bolted to the same bolted meanswhich bolts the submarine eye apparatus together, and the bracing arms 23 are provided to brace this member.

The cables II are then attached to the outer ends 34 of these structures. In this way the twisting efiect is reduced.

when the submarine eye is lowered, the winches controlling the cables I 3 are reversed, thus allowing the eye to drop uniformly towards the bot- The positioning of the eye as far as height above the sea floor is concerned can thus be determined visually.

If it is desired to sightthe object at an angle, any one, two or three of the cables 13 can be lowered or raised as desired, thus effecting an angular positioning of the submarine eye to locate objects from any angle:

For instance the eye can be placed at a suitable angle so that its flat surface travels in the direction of the vessel so that as the vessel cruises, the images are constantly picked up.

Iwillnowproceedtoelaboratemorefullyon the television and other apparatua' Light impulses picked up by the television apparatus'are carried electrically to the surface vessel by means of the multi-conductor cable it, which passes through the eye at the point It and which can be a stuffed type of connection as shown, or in more extreme cases under conditions of extreme pressure where the cable would be lead covered or armour covered, the same cable can be wiped to a suitable brass sleeve and bolted to the bell.

In the present apparatus this cable would be a four conductor cable.

Two of the wires, in cable 25 would carry a volt alternating currentdown to supply the posts v 21 to the head amplifier 23.

The same supply would then pass through the wires 28 through the conduits 33 and thence downwardly through the stufled type of connection or the other as explained 3| into the submarine lamps 32.

The submarine lamps 32 are of the usual commercial type, which are built to withstand pressures of the type usually met in submarine work and are attached to suitable brackets 33.

The stunted connection at 3| is solidly packed and is a construction well known in the art and can be made to withstand extreme prusures as desired 7 There are five lamps 32 as shown inl'lgure 4 which are electrically connected in multiple from the same circuit by means of the cables 320.

Part of the 110 volt supply a so passes to the motor 34 where it .is attached to the binding posts 35.

These'connections can be made in any way just so they are suitably connected in multiple.

The motor 34 drives the scanning disk 33 by means of the directly connected shaft 31a.

The scanningdiskismadeintheusualway well known in the television art and includes the spiralled arrangement as shown in Figure 9, and in this case a pairof spiraisareused such as 31 and 38. Each spiral'includes the mall openings 39 and there are approximately sixty in'each p.

To direct or project the optically dissected portion of the view, which normally is .in front of the pick-up television apparatus upon the photo electric cell, I use a plano-convexlens 43. (See Figure 8.)

This isasmalllens whichisplacedineach opening 33 in the scanning disk.

The scanning disk can be made of suitable metal such as aluminum or the like, and each opening 39,includes the shoulder ll, upon which the lens 40 rests, and the metal of the disk is very slightly peened over as at 42 to retain the lens solidly.

- The lenses 40 in the scanning disc 33 pass in a plane perpendicular to the path of the light and by their optical eflect cut the picture or view into a series of vertical lines as indicated in the dotted figures in Figure 9 at 41.

In this case, due to the sixty openings per spiral, the view will be made up of sixty lines per picture paralleling each other.

48 indicates the usual photographic lenses supported by the adjusting brackets 49.

To the right hand lens is supported the additional lens 50, which is a cylindrical type lens. This lens gives the right hand light beam a mirror-like reversal from top to bottom, but notfrom side to side, so that both photoelectric cells 43 and 45 will scan the scene together in a uniform manner.

The photographic lenses 43 perform the function of concentrating the light rays to the photoelectric cell 45, and the variation of the light intensity imparted to the photoelectric cell through the scanning disk lenses varies the current in the photoelectric cell which is amplified by the amplifier 28 and passes on to the receiving set on board the surface boat It! through the wires 6 I It will be seen that these wires are the other pair of the four wire conductors 25.

The connection from the photoelectric cells is made by means of the wires 52 on each side of the circuit.

It will be noted from a study of my Figure 3 and Figure 9 that the left hand photoelectric cell 43 is positioned to scan through the outer spiral of the scanning disk, and the right hand cell 44 is positioned to scan through the inside spiral. In this way and due to the fact that the spirals are arranged as shown, the image will be picked up simultaneously and by means of the double cell is more pronounced, and a clearer view will be obtained. These principles are well known in the art. Of course, if desired, it will be understood that the single spiral and cell arrangement can be .used.

Clamped to the bell l is the end plate 53, which is clamped against the flange 54 and the gasket 55 retained therebetween. This gasket is made of rubber or any suitable gasket necessary to withstand great pressures and the like.

Attached to the underside of the plate 53 are the guards 56 of which there are four as shown in the top and bottom views of Figures 5 and 4' respectively.

These guards are made of heavy sheet metal and about theirends is attached the angle iron 51 which is riveted at 58.

This angle will thus form a complete circle and will serve to reinforce the members 66.

As-a further method of strengthening the members 56, I provide the additional circular strips 59, which are also riveted to the members 56. This structure provides an eflicient guard for the lamps so that they will not strike objects on the sea fioor, or during the transit of the eye to the floor, and in case the eye strikes the sea floor the guard will also prevent injury to the lamps.

The guard is made of this open structure so light to pass through.

there will be no tendency for any such effects as swaying of the eye as it is lowered, or due to the passage of water currents against the guards. For instance if the guards 56 were made saucer-shaped or as a complete continuous shell, these effects would be pronounced, and I have provided the guards in a more open structure to offset these effects.

The plate 53 includes the openings 60 for the To seal the plates and at the same time provide lighttransmitting means, I provide the heavy and comparatively thick quartz windows 6 I. These windows set within the recesses 62 and are compressed against the gaskets 63. I

A pair of annular rings 64 serve'to maintain the pressure against the gasketed surfaces, and the gaskets 65 are placed beneath the flanges 66 of these rings.

These rings are suitably bolted as shown in Figure 4 by means of the bolts 61.

The guards 56, the plate 53 and the bell l5 are bolted together through the flange 54 as shown in Figure 7 where a long bolt 56 is used passing through a threaded portion in the plate 53 and through a clearance hole 68 in the flange 54.

The endof the bolt such as 69 is made sufiiciently long in case the projecting arms 22 (see Figure 2) or the fin I9 is to be placed on this flange.

Lock washers are also provided. The structure is made in this way so that the lower plate 53 can be separated from the bell for adjustments inside of the bell and so that these various units can be separated as desired.

The photoelectric cells are supported by means of the brackets H to the inside of the bell and the plate 45 by means of the various brackets 12.

It will be noted that the end plate 53 includes the integral ribs 13 which are made of very rugged construction and comprise uniform sections through vertical planes .at right angles to each other so that this ribbing will be in a square form approximately in the center with the motor 34 placed therein.

This ribbing of course is necessary to insure great strength to the plate.

I will now pass from the transmitting apparatus to the receiving arrangement within the surface vessel.

The fluctuating current impulses passing from the photoelectric cells and through the amplifier 28 by means of thebinding posts 52 and 5| which connect the circuits to these cells will be amplified and pass upwardly through the cables at the binding posts 5 I.

The impulses will pass from the photoelectric cells 43 and 44, through the head amplifier 26, which contains amplification, modulation, and oscillator etc., and suitable filter units functioning to properly amplify the vision current to a suitable carrier current, prior to transmission to the main amplifier H2 of the receiving set on board the vessel via wires 6 (see Fig. 5). The main amplifier H2 contains units for further filtration, modulation and amplification suitable for presentation of the vision current through wire 8 to the tube I4 and grid (the receiving light sources) for integration of the vision picked up by the eye below. The double shield 15:: is provided to prevent rays of light from straying.

The mechanical part of this apparatus will be now explained and the circuits explained later.

The "Crater" arc tube is fixed to the revolving table 11, which revolves independently of the motor 18.

image to a greater extent and is pivoted to the' bracket II at 81.

The lower end of the bracket )5 is also rigidly secured to the rotating table 11.

At the other end of the table is attached the bracket II at ll.

The hinges 9t and ll are provided with an upper part of the bracket 82 including the slotted opening 93 for adjusting purposes.

The upper extended bracket I includes the pivot 95, to which is attached the further mirror 00 which receives the image from the mirror "a.

The mirrors I8 and 83a are so arranged that the natural optical laws are correctly followed in order to transpose the image properly and upwardly to the ground glass visioning screen 91 where the identical image which is picked up at the bottom ofthesea,willbetransposedonthisscreenas shown in Figure 1f;

The table 9| is provided to carry the various switch rheostats and other control devices.

The rotatabletable I1 is rotated by means of the belt 09 which passes through the groove III, which belt also passes around the further wheel Ill. (See Figure 10.)

The wheel III is directly driven by the shaft I02. which is secured to the knobill.

The belt it is of a suitable type so that the tension in the belt will be maintained uniformly.

The purpose of-this arrangement is as follows:

In case the receiving scanning disk II or the transmitting scanning disk 36 are out of phase due to coasting of one ofthe disks or any one of the other influences during adjustment, by simply turning the knob ill the table 'II can be rotated slowly as desired until the image is no longer jumbled and is picked up perfectly. This will inform the observer that the disks are again in phase. I

The effect of this apparatus is merely to turn the tube It so that the identical analogous openings inthe scanning disk are uniform so that the pictures are transmitted perfectly and of course the associated mirrors carried in a positive .manner so that the effect produced is entirely uniform. a

It will be noted that the table 11 is thus rotated in a free manner not mociated with the shaft ll of the motor "so that these two mechanisms are entirely separate.

For controlling the cables ll for'tilting or lowering the submarine eye, I provide the double throw switches i, I"; I", I". and I, where I controls the port side arm, ill the stern arm, I" the-bow arm, Ill thestarboard arm and I is a master switch controlling all cables I! simultaneously. In other words throwing these switches one way or the other an upward or down ward movement of the cables I! can be controlled tion commonly used.

accuse cable, which need not be shown here, and the wiring arrangements need not be shown since they are well known to anyone in the art.

The rheostat I." is connected in to the Ill volt line circuit so that the current maybe fed properly and is really the rheostat which controls the main circuit.

The rheostat HI regulates the current from the line to the switches aforementioned, namely the cable controlling switches.

The rheostat III is used to compensate for the internal resistance of the different lengths of cable which will be used and for other reasons. The primary reason however is to balance the electrical resistances between the upper receiving set and the lower transmitting set. Such variations maybe involved in a case where it may be very warm on the surface of the water but cold in the sea depths, thereby causing a difference in synchronization in the operation of the two scanning disc motors. This resistance will compensate for this condition as well as to other conditions.

In this way the scanning disks will be perfectly synchronized, due to the present method of the circuit connections.

The character Ill designates the main ampliher (see Figure 10), where the letter H represents a rheostat to control the heater element of the arc tube and where F is the rheostat controlling the filaments of the amplifier tubes, and B the rheostat controlling the plate voltage.

The wiring diagram in Figure 10 is not shown complete to avoid confusion since a more satisfactory diagram is shown in Figure 6.

The wiring diagram will now be briefly explained. (See Figure 6.) The head ampliiler is represented by the character 20 and receives the 110 volt circuit at 21 from line 3 in Figure 6 which lines are controlled by suitable rheostats as explained.

The 110 volt circuit passes'through the lines I ll to the motor 34 and thence to the powerful lamps 32. These lines are similar to the lines 2! in Figure 3 which pass through the conduits 3|.

The photoelectric cells I! and I are connected to the lines H! at 52 as shown in Figure 3, and to the head amplifier 20. The thumb screw "I is arranged to adjust the arc tube base in an outward movement to give the radial adjustment desired.

.The head amplifier II is the usual type such as a two'tube amplifier (resistance coupled) and of course the main amplifier H2 is of the construcwhich are secured to the table at the dotted porif! so that the camera will directly overmhang the screen I and so that pictures can be This feature would serye the valuable purpose bf allowing photographingsrof the sea bottom as it actuallyisandasitisin motionso that these pictures can be obtained without the necessity of lowering some cumbersome apparatus which is now used. ;Itwill nowbeseenthatlhaveprovidedasubmarine eye which can be readily lowered to the bottom of the sea from the surface, which eye contains a television apparatus which directs the image upwardly through light and electrical effects to a surface boat.

It will also be seen that I have provided such an eye which is positively sealed to withstand great pressures, which also includes apparatus to illuminate the sea floor properly.

It will be seen that I have provided means for tilting the submarine eye to a suitable angle for properly scanning the sea floor. It will also be seen that I have provided such an apparatus of the type involving factors of simplicity as against the objects accomplished.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a surface vessel including television receiving means, a submarine eye including means for withstanding deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation to the surface vessel, including television transmitting means connected to-the television receiving means of the surface vessel, and non-twisting means for supporting the eye, including a plurality of wide spread and downwardly converging cables attached to the surface vessel and the eye, and means for causing angular positioning of the eye to a non-parallel relationship with respect to a sea floor. l

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a surface vessel including television receiving means, a submarine eye including means for withstanding deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation from the surface vessel, including television transmitting means connected to the television receiving means, said submarine eye including a bell, a horizontal end plate secured to the bell including windows positioned to transmit images from a sea floor to the television means, and means for illuminating the sea floor, including a plurality of submarine lamps attached beneath the eye, and means for guarding the lamps.

3. An apparatus of the character described,

comprising a surface vessel including television receiving means, a submarine eye including means for withstanding deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation from the surface vessel, including television transmitting means connected to the television receiving means, said submarine eye including a bell, an end plate secured to the bell including windows positioned to transmit images from a sea floor to the television means, said television means including a scanning disc, a motor driving the scanning disc, a photographic lens positioned above the scanning disc, a photoelectric cell positioned above the photographic lens, and electrical means for transmittingelectrical fluctuations upwardly to the receiving television means.

4. An apparatus of the character described comprising a surface vessel, including television receiving means, a submarine eye including means for withstanding deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation from the surface vessel, in-

eluding television transmitting means connected to the television receiving means and illuminating means attached beneath the submarine eye, including a plurality of lamps adapted to throw light beams downwardly at right angles to the general horizontal plane of the submarine eye,

for withstanding deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation from the surface vessel, in-

cluding television transmitting means connected to the television receiving means and illuminating means attached beneath the submarine eye, in.- cluding a plurality of lamps adapted to throw light beams downwardly at right angles to the general horizontal plane of the submarine eye, non-twisting means adapted to prevent oscillation of the submarine eye, including a plurality of wide spread and downwardly converging cables attached to the eye from the surface vessel, and means for decreasing the convergency of the cables, including a four-point wide spread structure attached to the eye.

6. An apparatus of the character described comprising a surface vessel, including television means, a submarine eye, including means to withstand deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation from the surface vessel, including television transmitting means connected to the television receiving means, non-twisting means for supporting the eye, including a plurality of wide spread and downwardly converging cables attached to the surface vessel and the eye, said receiving means including means for synchronizing the transmitting scanning disc with the receiving scanning disc, including a motor adapt ed to rotate the scanning disc, a rotatable table freely journalled about the bearing of the motor, means for manually rotating the table to desired phase relationship, reflecting mirrors attached to the rotating table, and a translucent screen positioned about the reflected mirrors and adapted to receive the reflected images thereon.

7. An apparatus of the character described comprising a surface vessel, including television means, a submarine eye, including means to withstand deep sea pressures suspended in submerged relation from the surface vessel, including television transmitting means connected to the television receiving means, non-twisting means for supporting the eye, including a plurality of wide spreadand downwardly converging cables attached to the surface vessel and the eye, said receiving means including means for synchronizing the transmitting scanning disc with the receiving scanning disc, including a motor adapted to rotate the scanning disc, a rotatable table freely iournalled about the bearing of the motor, means for manually rotating the table to desired phase relationship, reflecting mirrors attached to the rotating table, and a translucent screen positioned above the reflecting mirrors and adapted to receive the reflected images thereon, and means for taking motion pictures positioned above the translucent screen.

. CHARLES W. HEATH.

cERTIFIoA'rE 0F CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,057,146. 4 October 13, 1936.

CHARLES HEATH.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, first column, line '19, after the word "mechanical" insert electrical or optical; line 62, claim 3, for "above" read below; and that the solid Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office. v

Signed and sealed this 16th day of February, A. D. 1937.

.J I Henry Van Arsdale (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

